The early nineties
was a good time for death metal and producer Scott Burns whose
schedule must have been booked beyond solid as he produced the
majority of the shit that came out. U.K. death metal band
Cancer hit the scene with their debut
To the Gory End which received a positive response. With
this sophomore album,
Cancerreally let the monster loose and made
Death Shall Rise, possibly their best material in their
career. Their first 3 albums are recommended if you're into
solid old school thrash/death.

The band name alone is probably the most sinister that comes to
mind -- the disease is probably one of the most rampant and
relentless diseases to ever infect mankind, with no signs of
slowing down, so there is brutality in simplicity. Think of
something sick -- think of
Cancer. The musicianship on this one melds that old
school death/thrash vibe, with very chugging mid-paced
arrangements with some clever and memorable breakdowns. We never
get any break neck speed blast beats but the sound is thunderous
and technical. Sometimes its nice to stop and smell the blood
splattered roses. The songs are thick, meaty and have nice long
running times too. They take their time and get into it. It's
not all at break neck fuck you and down your throat speed in
under a minute.

This brings back memories of the days I would buy CDs at a Sam
the Record Man or before the days of HMV, the internet and
downloading hadn't become quite as hot as it is today, as most
average people had shitty dial-up internet which tied up your
phone line. You'd go into a music store and look at the CDs, but
they were about $30 a pop -- especially the imports -- so lets
just say I spent a lot of money on CD's. I also remember some of
the CDs having these big long cardboard slip cases similar to
those old school big box VHS tapes you'd find around. Roadrunner
Records were big at this time and had a slew of great releases.
Metal Blade and Earache Records, those were the true days of
death metal. I think
Cancergot a bit lost in the shuffle, due to the
inability to find themselves and maintain an original sound. The
vocals were very high and thrashy, similar to
Obituary and
Death, while the music is a hybrid of
Cannibal Corpse (who were releasing
Butchered at Birth the same year) and old
Death.

The opener, Hung, Drawn and Quartered is definitely one
of the most memorable
Cancersongs because of the chorus and breakdown on the
song. It has me singing along with the chorus and the intro of
the song features the classic death bell tolling. Tasteless
Incest also has a great song structure and memorable chorus
with "Keep it in the family, human disgrace!" Probably
the best structure, and if possible, toe tapping tune on the
album is Burning Casket. I would even call it funky, the
way it goes up and down. It has a very memorable breakdown and
delivery. Internal Decay is also another memorable track,
and amongst the best on here, but the entire
Death Shall Rise release definitely deserves a listen
from start to finish.

Another big mention with this one is that James Murphy did
guitar duty on it. If you're not familiar with Murphy, he has
played with the who's who in the old school death metal circle
with the likes of
Obituary,
Death,
Testament and many more. Even his own one album death
metal project during the nineties known as
Disincarnate were kick ass. It was said Murphy never
wanted to be put on this album as a regular member, he was just
helping with
Death Shall Rise but he was credited as a regular member
regardless.

Cancerare currently active. They released a couple more
albums, such as Black Faith and Spirit In Flames,
but never recaptured that old school feeling or revival of their
earlier works. In 2014 they re-formed to tour in support of the
re-release of
To the Gory End,
Death Shall Rise and
The Sins of Mankind.
Death Shall Rise is a seminal '90s death metal release
not to be taken lightly or forgotten. It's up there as one of
the best.